Limerick lads make Forbes Rich List but Bill Gates takes the top spot

For the fourth year in a row, Bill Gates has been named the richest person in the world by Forbes Magazine.

Limerick lads make Forbes Rich List but Bill Gates takes the top spot

For the fourth year in a row, Bill Gates has been named the richest person in the world, but according to Forbes Magazine he has increased competition.

It was a record year for the wealthy with a large jump in the number of billionaires on the planet.

233 billionaires were welcomed to the list this year and for the first time ever Forbes counted over 2,000 people with fortunes to fit the very big bill.

Bill Gates has claimed this title 18 out of the past 23 years with a current fortune of $86bn.

The title of second richest went to Warren Buffet, who made an impressive $14.8bn increase in worth over the past 12 months.

Last year's second richest person in the world, Spanish clothing chain Zara owner Amancio Ortega fell to forth place, despite gaining $4.3bn to his fortune this year.

The traditional bronze place went to Amazon's Jeff Bezo, who accumulated an additional $27.6bn to his fortune since last year when he was ranked as the fifth richest person in the world.

A familiar face fills the number five spot this year as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg slotted in there with a fortune of €11.4bn and sixth place went to Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico who has been ranked outside the top five for the first time in over 12 years.

Two Limerick lads featured on the list for the first time as the Collison brothers make up two of four salf-made billionaires in their 20's.

The other two being the co-founders of Snapchat.

This year saw 15 new self-made women join the list, 14 from Asia pacific and one woman, Thai Lee, who was born in Thailand, but moved to the US as a child.

In total there are 227 women on the list, 10 of whom co-founded a business with a brother or male partner and therefore share their fortune.

The full list of billionaires can be seen here.

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